There’s a new blues band and all they want to do is take your mind off your troubles.
Formed in the fall of 2014, 5 Shades of Blue is more than a group of guys singing about turncoat women, working on a chain gang or being brought down by booze.
It’s about a message with a driving beat and wailing vocals that reflect our times. It’s all about reckonings whether personal or global.
There are a lot of homespun truths in blues and 5 Shades of Blue is about keeping a genre of music alive where many of its innovators have passed on.
And with their experience it’s also about passing on the torch of wisdom. Between the five musicians – regulars Bill Bonnach (lead vocals), Jerry Brown (guitar/singer), son Blair Brown (drums), Barry Furneaux (guitar) and Tracy Zukiwsky (bass) – there is more than 200 years of experience. And that’s saying something.
“We just want to play and make good solid music. The first thing we do is park our egos at the door,” said Zukiwsky quite simply during a recent telephone interview.
This lively fivesome plans to park their act at LB’s Pub on Friday, April 29, one of about 10 shows a year they perform.
Although the band is new on the scene, the individuals are familiar faces. Zukiwsky honed his chops with Willie James and Crawdad as part of the mainstream scene back in the ’80s and ’90s.
Jimmy Guiboche mentored Furneaux while Jerry Brown, a Scottish ex-patriot, played drums with British glam rocker Gary Glitter. Instead, Brown’s son Blair sharpened his skills down south drumming for a Los Angeles recording studio.
The bluesmen play tributes to their musical heroes, legends such as Eric Clapton, Johnny Winter, Jimmy Reed and the Rolling Stones.
But in their short time together, 5 Shades of Blue has also composed four short, eloquent originals.
“We like to mix it up with all types of blues,” Zukiwsky said.
The fatherly Brown is the blues bands’ major songwriter. One of their originals is Wrap It Up, a medium tempo song about ending everything whereas Cross-cut Saw Put Down Again pulls all the stops as a rockin’ blues dance tune.
And The Memphis Room is a mid-tempo blues salute to an unnamed Edmonton musician.
“We have a friend in town who hosts bands in his double insulated garage. There are lots of good blues bands that play there. We decided to write a song about it and he was blown away by the fact we wrote a song about his place.”
The concert starts at 9:30 p.m. No cover.
